good
>good lighting
>shows off the whole costume
>little to no background noise if possible

bad
>FLASH
>dim, convention hall setting
>cut-off limbs or awkward positioning
>tilted angle

>>4986850
Ok, mind sharin/dumpin pics as an example?

Love the lighting and location and the overall pose of the cosplayer. It looks like something that belongs in the main series.

>>4986886
Zaiiiiiiiiiiiiddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

>>4986886
OP here,

Sup G.

I get what youre saying about the pose, not something i see in many cowboy bebop cosplays. So are ya sayin that the quality of the pic doesnt matter, so long as the cosplayer and scene is something you see in the anime? (in short, in character cosplayer and good scene?)

Amazing cosplay photo thread?

>>4986970
GO GO GO!

Busy editing zoo photos, hope someone uploads some awesome photography pics.

Last one's a selfpost. I switched to a new computer and lost all my old images >:

>>4987037
OH MY GOD YES! I'VE NEVER SEEN THAT DONE BEFORE!

You should remember that it's more in the technique than in the equipment you're using. Buying an SLR and a bunch of different lenses won't help you if you don't know how to use them. I've had photoshoots with multiple photographers at the same time, and sometimes the guy with the little point and shoot took much better photos than the guy with the $1200 SLR.

>>4987051
I agree, and if you know how to edit in the right way. Sometimes my editing makes up for my shakyness.

But can you define technique in your sense?

>>4986846
The purpose of photography is to capture an image. You need lighting. Sharpness. You need your image to have something about it. What are you capturing? A reaction. Whimsy. An epic action.

tl;dr Make sure it not only looks good but has something good about it.

>>4987060
Well of course, editing is a big help! But IMO it's best to take photos well instead of relying on photoshop. And I mean technique, like framing your shots well, lighting, making sure the cosplayers are posing nicely, etc. I honestly don't know all that much about photography though... If you're really interested though, maybe take a cheap photography class at a community college? There's also a lot of online stuff too.

>>4987080
Very very true! I suppose if someone asked for a shoot, i would have to ask them more about the character (Which could result in the shoot being awkward or really good). But some edge about it huh? I'll def take that into account.

>>4987105
Lol, im a graphic design major, so of course i took a class on photography, but the class didnt really teach me anything i didnt already know. And yes, framing and lighting are also good, but getting the cosplayer to not pose awkwardly can be somewhat of a chore.

Technically not cosplay, but still pretty related and awesome shot.

>>4987123
I'm sorry, but would you please explain to me how this is a good shot?
It may not be BAD, I'll give it that. It does some things right, but it's still not a good (let alone "awesome") photo. I'd say this is probably a lucky snapshot at best.

>>4987123
He's got that Ice Cold Water.

And it's only ONE DOLLAR.

I really like this picture because of the way it's edited. The background isn't too busy and the cosplayer doesn't look like an idiot.
A HUGE part of cosplay photography, at leat imo, is the cosplayer being able to pose. If they have a derpy or are in some awkward position, the picture is gonna look like shit no matter how good you are.

>>4987423
It's still better than some of the stuff in this thread though...like the picture here >>4988778. Yes, the cape is awesome, and it's a great idea but the cosplayer looks awful. You can barely even see her thanks to the weird photoshop job. So it's like a good shot that was fucked up with editing I guess. (IMO of course, as anon obviously likes it...) That brings me to a big no-no: DO NOT OVER EDIT PICTURES YOU TAKE. I am not saying the one above is horribly over-edited, just a bit much in my opinion. I put it in capitals to stress how irritating it is to see a great picture/costume/pose combo wrecked by bad editing.

Some friends of mine once showed me a photographer's shots he took of them, and I was positively horrified at how badly he had shooped the pics. My friends didn't even look like themselves anymore, he upped the exposure and turned nice pictures into crap (and made pretty girls scary looking). I just don't understand how he could have thought that looked good.

>>4987005
>>4986996
>>4986995
>>4986993
>>4987051
>>4987123

I like these.

>>4986990

Composition is perfect...
Subject is lacking. They are just too small.

This is a pretty reasonable list of places to look. It comes down to-

Is it believable the characters are there? (ie, fits with the basic theme of the source material)
Are there things sticking out of their body parts? (does their forehead sprout a lamp-post?)
Is the subject out of focus or blurry? (sometimes it is an effect, sometimes its not. If it isn't we don't want it.)
Is the composition crap?


http://kotaku.com/5829189/meet-a-dog-thats-blissfully-unaware-hes-cosplaying-amaterasu/gallery/1
http://kotaku.com/5831057/if-bioshock-infinite-encourages-cosplay-like-this-im-all-for-it
http://illyne.deviantart.com/
http://adella.deviantart.com/

mfw everyone gets pissed that "the zelda project"... blah blah blah--At the end of the day, there are a couple cool zelda pictures.